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Origin and history

The Château de Beaufort, attested as early as the 11th century around 923 with Bernard de Beaufort, was initially a wooden and stone fortress controlling the Doron valley, known as Luce. Raised on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa named Villa Lucia, it became the heart of the seigneury of Beaufort in the 14th century under the sires of Faucigny. Its strategic role was confirmed thanks to its dominant position the confluence of Doron and Dorinet, allowing the control of the axes towards Savoie, Taraise and Faucigny. The family of Beaufort, vassale des Faucigny, built a Romanesque square tower (XII century), then ramparts flanked by seven towers.

In the 13th century, the castle was at the centre of conflicts between the Dauphins and the house of Savoie. In 1271 Guillaume de Beaufort, in debt, handed him over to Béatrix de Faucigny, who added two round towers (east and west) between 1282 and 1305. The Treaty of Paris (1355) definitively retached the Beaufortain at La Savoie, marking the end of his military role. The castle then became a religious symbol: in 1536, Dominicans expelled from Geneva by the Reformation settled there, transforming the chapel into a pilgrimage site under the name Notre-Dame-des-Châteaux. The Dominicans of Annecy then took over until the Revolution.

Architecturally, the castle consists of a high enclosure with a Romanesque square dungeon (7x7 m, 25 m high) and a second cylindrical dungeon (XIII century). The house body of the 16th century, backed by the dungeon, preserves traces of a round turn. The west tower, better preserved (3 m in diameter, 3.50 m thick walls), contrasts with the east tower, damaged by lightning in 1730. After the Revolution, the site was sold as a national property (1793) to a former Benedictine, Claude Bal, who converted it into a farm. Repurchased in 1837 by the Reverend Antoine Martinet, then in 1870 by the Augustinians of the Assumption, who established an alumnat until the 20th century.

The Château de Beaufort illustrates the political and religious stakes of Beaufortain, passing from the hands of the local lords (Beaufort, Faucigny) to those of the Savoys, then becoming a Marian place of worship. Its history also reflects the social transformations, from medieval fortress to agricultural and spiritual center. The current remains, protected on the plateau des Vanches, bear witness to these metamorphoses, while the chapel Notre-Dame-des-Châteaux remains a symbol of identity for the valley.

The castle of Beaufort, organized from the 14th century, included the village of Saint-Maxime, the districts of Arêches and Roselend, as well as the parishes of Villard and Hauteluce. Under the Savoyard administration, the chestnuts – officers appointed to manage the tax revenues and maintenance of the castle – lost their military role after 1355. Their weapons, two silver towers in the field of the Azure, symbolized this authority. In the 17th century, the seigneury was erected as a marquisate for the Fleury family, which kept it until 1771.

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